Sleeping Under Snow by Susan Austin
“Sleeping Under Snow” by Susan Austin The gate is open so do what you may. All I ask: leave what remains wild wild. Be kind to the thistle. Of all the lotus flowers raining upon the Buddha that day, all the bodhisattvas– there must have been a weed or two. I feel 10,000 years old. I give back all your wars. As for mine, it was futile trying to out-swim a tsunami. Virginia, I put riverstones in my coat...
Patience by Mary Elise Bailey
“Patience” by Mary Elise Bailey from “Songs for Spring” I curl around the bulb of a strange blue flower, its nascent lines, in darker blues, delphic and hidden, like a cross between a wish and a map no one can read. I wait for the leftover snow to melt, last year’s grass, still tinted green. I wait for the lines to reveal their intentions, to thicken, to ripen, as the ground slowly unfolds its...
Doors by Dawn Banghart
“Doors” by Dawn Banghart Each morning can start different or like this. Each morning can be an open door. Forget the coffee, forget the shower if you could forget responsibilities right now where would you go after tugging open the door? Nothing is needed, not even your shoes leave them, laces untied, lights off. Outdoors you will find a predawn sky a faint brightness in the east with one airplane coming or...
Women’s Work by Jude Rittenhouse
“Women’s Work” by Jude Rittenhouse I am ironing. Mother said that, when I was a baby, I watched her iron. Hour after hour. In the 1950’s, women pressed dresses, napkins, stacks of men’s white shirts, even sheets. My eyes followed her hands, back and forth, endlessly smoothing life’s wrinkles and creases. All of my adult life, I have hated ironing. Now, I am ironing. Another woman friend has learned: cancer....
Psalm of Fire and Water by Cristina Baptista
“Psalm of Fire and Water” by Cristina Baptista “[Christ’s] mother gave birth to him without ever having loved. She wasn’t a woman: she was a suitcase.”...